I’m cleaning up some old links and bookmarks, and ran across a feature on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R) that ran in the Fort Bend/Southwest Sun after DeLay paid a visit to the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce.
Here’s an excerpt:
“The city of Houston – after a long, hard struggle – installed the same mass-transit system that was installed in Calgary, Canada, the year I was born. It seems to me that Houston can do better. It seems to me that tearing up two lanes of a major, six-lane urban artery to serve the needs of only 3 percent of the populace might not have been the wisest allocation of resources,”
The light rail system, as it is currently devised, seems to provide for yesterday, and not plan much at all, DeLay said. “That doesn’t mean it’s a failure; just that it needs an infusion of vision and innovation worthy of a 22nd-century community like Houston,” he said. As a city of pioneers, the pioneering spirit must be at the heart of Houston’s transportation growth.
“I assure you, that has been at the heart of my position on the new federal transportation funding bill in Congress, on which I’ve been working for a year with my House and Senate colleagues.
The bill must embrace new technologies, new ideas, and innovative thinking. That is why I am committed to writing funding equity into the transportation reauthorization bill…Highway money raised in Texas ought to stay in Texas to create Texas jobs and Texas opportunities. I don’t think a guaranteed return of 95 cents on the dollar is too much to ask, and I’ve been saying as much to everyone on that conference committee who will listen. We are going to get this done.We are also going to provide greater empowerment and autonomy to states and localities,” DeLay promised.
The full article is here.
We originally found the link via the MET-Houston Yahoo group, whose moderator wrote:
Here it is folks, Tom DeLay, long hated by the politicians and special interest groups that simply wanted light rail without any other consideration, speaking out on a subject he has spoken of frequently but largely ignored by the news media.
The Chronicle has tried to demonize him for not following their belief in the Lee P Main Street trolley car line. One should always remember the infamous secret papers the Chronicle accidentally published showing their contempt.
Tom DeLay is ready to endorse and help us get a real solution. Please note thought that he is not saying the Feds are going to shower money down on us. He is looking at a conservative and reasoned solution.
Things look pretty good for monorail, maglev technology and PRT folks. It’s time to get with our local officials and open their minds.
We would hope that our friends in town who are so concerned about Tom DeLay’s various relationships with business interests are just as concerned about the various business and political relationships of municipal policymakers who continue to drive transit (and central park!) policy in Houston.
